Convergence Accel Launches $25M Fund Focused On Indonesian Startups

Indonesia is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for mobile devices. Over one in five Indonesians already use a smartphone and that number is expected to increase rapidly over the next few years. Despite a very promising market opportunity, however, Indonesian startups still have to deal with many drawbacks, including lack of venture capital funding and mentorship. Convergence Accel wants to change that.

Li is very upbeat about Indonesia’s growth prospects, noting that in 2018 there are expected to be over 150 million smartphones in Indonesia, with over 100 million using 3G or faster connections. “On the adoption side, we recently saw in Mary Meeker’s presentation that Indonesia already has the highest consumption of screen minutes per capita globally, together with the fourth largest Facebook population and some of the most engaged Twitter users. Adoption of Internet products clearly has momentum,” Li said in an email.

“Finally, with an economy nearing 50 percent of Southeast Asia’s total GDP and among the fastest growing at a forecast seven percent, Indonesia clearly has a lot of market potential in the next decade. I think of Indonesia as China (albeit one-fifth the size) five years ago,” he added.

Convergence Accel will keep an eye on a wide range of sectors in Indonesia, though Li says they are particularly interested in media, online marketplaces, and mobile startups. In order to help portfolio companies grow, Convergence Accel will not only provide funding, but also a mentoring network that will connect startup founders with successful entrepreneurs and companies.